Corona to MIS-C: What is this ‘new disease’ happening to children?
Four-year-old Aman had to be rushed to a private hospital in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh). Doctors said that “without wasting time, he will have to be admitted to the children’s ICU for treatment.”
The doctors had noticed some unusual discrepancies in Aman’s reports which they were worried about.
Aman’s mother, Pooja, states that “their son had a mild fever (around 99 degrees) for about two weeks, complained of itching in the eyes and started complaining of abdominal pain before reaching the hospital. Rest of the activities were normal and there was no other physical problem.” But when doctors told Aman’s father Suraj in the hospital that ‘inflammation in a part of his son’s heart due to an infection’ So he was surprised.
Doctors said that “Aman has a problem called MIS-C”.
According to ‘The Lancet’, one of the world’s most famous medical journals, ‘Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome’ ie MIS-C in children is such a serious disease that is currently being linked to Kovid-19 (SARS-Covid-2). Used to be.
The entire family of Suraj, a teacher by profession, was infected with the Corona virus before Aman fell ill. In the second week of May itself, the entire family completed its isolation after treatment and all came negative in the test of Kovid. Unlike the rest of the family during the corona infection, Aman had no more serious symptoms other than eye infection.
Aman’s RT-PCR report was negative, but in the antibody test, sufficient amount of antibodies of Kovid were found in Aman’s body.
Ajit Kumar, a neonatologist and pediatrician treating Aman, said that “Aman’s ECG was bad. His echo (heart test) report was also not good. Some other health markers were also shaken which suddenly disturbed at this age. It’s an unusual thing.”
Cases increased in the last few days
Doctor Ajit said, “As people are recovering from corona, cases of MIS in children have increased. This is mainly the situation after corona infection. However, MIS is still rare in children. But children who get this It is happening, the reason for that has not been ascertained yet. Since the density of corona infection was very high in this wave, so the cases of children have also come in large numbers.
Dr. Ajit Kumar’s hospital has six ICU beds for children and most of them are MIS-C patients.
According to media reports, about 200 cases of this disease have been registered so far in the Delhi Capital Region.
According to the news agency ANI, children in different states of India are worried about the multisystem inflamatory syndrome. In this regard, the Indian Academy of Pediatric Intensive Care has reported that cases of MIS-C have increased in the last few days.
According to the institute, there has been a sudden jump in the cases of MIS-C, affecting children between the ages of 4 and 18 who have been diagnosed with corona. However, in some cases the effect of this disease has been seen even in children up to six months old.
How to identify MIS-C?
The American organization Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been studying the disease since May 2020.
According to the CDC, MIS-C is a rare, but dangerous, disease that is being linked to Kovid-19.
According to the American organization, this disease can affect children’s heart, lungs, kidneys, intestines, brain and eyes.
According to US researchers, some children with MIS-C have also seen complaints of neck pain, body rash, eye lashes and persistent fatigue.
According to the institution, it needs to be noted that the symptoms of MIS-C should be the same in all children, it is not necessary. Many cases of this disease have been reported in the US since June 2020.
‘Starts with small symptoms’
The Lancet, the world’s most renowned medical journal, wrote in its report, “Researchers found that the average hospital stay after this illness was 7 to 8 days. All children had fever. About 73 percent of children had abdominal pain or diarrhea.” And 68 percent of the children were also vomiting.
In addition to the symptoms reported by other large institutions of the world, the UK’s famous medical journal The BMJ has also considered conjunctivitis, or eye infection, as a major symptom of MIS-C.
The BMJ – One of the oldest medical journals in the world. According to his report, sometimes due to the similarity of symptoms of MIS-C to Kawasaki disease, these two diseases are also being combined. But MIS-C is a different type of disease. Heart and intestinal problems are seen in MIS-C patients, which is different from the symptoms of Kawasaki disease.
According to the researchers, MIS-C is a progressive disease that begins with minor symptoms, but without treatment, it progresses very quickly and within a few days it affects many organs and works together. can shut down.
What is the effect of this disease on children?
Researchers at the American institution CDC have not yet been able to gather information about which children are getting more disease and why it is happening.
However, children who had symptoms of MIS-C were either affected by Kovid-19 or by someone Were in contact who had Kovid-19.
Researchers from the CDC said that “it is not yet known which pre-disease children are most at risk, what types of health children are at higher risk, and who are treated first with MIS-C.” Should go or what needs to be considered more. “
However, Lancet researchers have studied some children suffering from MIS-C and tried to explain how the disease is affecting them.
Research conducted by the Lancet found that all children with the disease had poor results of some basic blood tests, such as CRP and ESR. Apart from these, the results of many children’s D-dimer (blood clotting test) and heart-related tests were also found to be poor.
During this study, researchers found that about 54 percent of the children’s ECG (heart test) report was also not correct.
According to the Lancet report, 22 per cent of the children diagnosed with MIS-C required ventilators and of the children who were confirmed with MIS-C, 71 per cent had to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). At the same time, 1.7 percent of the children who were victims of MIS-C died.
According to the Lancet, MIS-C is a potentially fatal disease, but with timely detection and proper treatment, most children can be saved. However, the long-term consequences of this disease are not yet known.
How to reduce the risk of MIS-C?
The Indian Academy of Pediatric Intensive Care also believes that the risk of MIS-C can be significantly reduced by timely reporting of the disease and timely treatment.
According to the medical journal ‘The BMJ’, most children suffering from MIS-C are treated with ‘intravenous immunoglobulin’ and steroids. However, much information is not yet available on how much this treatment has a favorable effect on children.
But explaining the importance of correct identification of symptoms in this problem, the Indian Academy of Pediatric Intensive Care has said that parents, especially those who have been infected with corona, get MIS-C-like symptoms in their children. I must talk.
According to the institute, it can also be detected through low-cost blood tests, such as CVC, ESR and CRP. Poor families can detect it with the help of comparatively cheap tests like CRP.
According to pediatrician doctor Ajit Kumar, now Aman is completely out of danger. He has been discharged from the hospital. However, he will have to be on drugs for some time. But in the case of Aman, the big concern of the doctors is now over.
Doctor Ajit Kumar says that “Aman’s reaching the hospital at the right time, was beneficial for him. Otherwise, in the latter situation, there would be complaints of blood clotting in the limbs, which makes fighting more difficult. It has been seen that in that situation we are 100 Lose one of the children.”
According to the Indian Academy of Pediatric Intensive Care, 26 percent of the population in India is under the age of 14 and half of the population is under five years of age.
Some experts have said that the third wave of corona in India could potentially cause more trouble to this class (children). In such a situation, pediatricians are considering it very important to pay special attention to the symptoms of children.
